"I WISH TO HAVE AN OUTDOOR PLAY AREA"

Granting one playful spirit’s wish for a playground of his own

Sultan is an accomplished seven-year-old; he speaks and counts in French, English, and Arabic. He grew up in a multilingual household with his parents speaking French and English and his grandparents conversing in Arabic.

Sultan, like any child his age, wants to play outdoors with his friends and parents. However, his love of the outdoors presents a problem when temperatures reach 110 degrees plus in the Las Vegas summers. This is even more difficult because Sultan suffers from spina bifida – a birth defect that occurs when bones do not properly form around the spinal cord – and his weakened immune system rules out public playgrounds.

For a long time, Sultan had zero feeling in his legs, like many severe cases of spina bifida. He didn’t even feel it when he broke his femur. However, Sultan’s daily therapy is helping to change that. He now stands for upwards of 35 minutes a day and can control motion in his legs. The biggest factor in Sultan’s recovery is his will. A determined and disciplined little boy, he wakes up for therapy at 4:30 a.m. to avoid the punishing Vegas heat and so he can enjoy his therapy outside with the trees as he watches the sunrise.

OxBlue joins Martin Harris Construction and Make-A-Wish® Southern Nevada to fulfill the dreams of this exceptional little boy in Las Vegas. Sultan’s wish is the ability to play outside no matter the weather.

The playhouse will enable Sultan to feel like he is always outside with glass doors and skylight and protect him from the heat with an AC unit. It will also feature an adaptive swing, wheelchair desk, ramps from the house, accessible drawers and cabinets, and adjustable bars for Sultan’s therapy.

This is one of the few times in my son’s life that I’ve seen him wowed with no words.

– Mohammad (Sultan’s Dad)

This has just turned out to be a beautiful amazing wish for a kid that brought our company together and inspired us to look at life and plug forward.

– Nick Gushue

Make a Wish made this happen for us. [They gave him] a view of the pool, the sun, and the sky so he can feel like he is outside.

-Mohammad (Sultan’s Dad)

We’ve just been having faith and we are all in this together as a team.

– Mohammad (Sultan’s Dad)

I’m Positive he will spend most of his time here because he loves being outside.

– Mohammad (Sultan’s Dad)

Special thanks to all of the community partnersworking to make Sultan’s wish come true: